Clark experiences flashbacks of his life on Earth before and after he met Lois, but all is not quite as it seems.

There’s a curious dream-like quality to the majority of this episode, as we step into the shoes of Clark Kent and witness his life as it has been from teenager to adult. And the really odd thing is that, despite this being an origin story we’ve seen before and this being verboten in modern comic book genre adaptations, it works really well.

Partly that’s Tyler Hoechlin’s natural charisma, which sells the truly wholesome side of Kal-El really well – his earnestness in wanting to be a figure for good, and use his powers to protect the people of his adopted home planet. From day one, Hoechlin has been absolutely nailing that quality in the Big Boy Scout and he’s on form here.

But it also does something that I’ve rarely seen other versions handle better – it shows us Kal-El learning. Yes, he’s super strong and fast, but he can’t solve all the problems in the world just by hitting things/lifting things/flying over things. He also can’t help – by virtue of his own ‘superness’ – overshadowing the more mundane but no less deadly problems of the world when all the eyes of the media and therefore their viewers are on him.

Watching that penny drop, and seeing how it begins to inform the nascent relationship between wide-eyed country boy trainee journo Clark and hard-nosed investigative reporter Lois Lane is a genuine joy. It adds a dimension to their relationship that feels deeper and more believable than many we’ve seen previously, and more importantly it draws an absolute line under exactly which side of Kal-El it was that Lois fell for.

It also packs in some greatly humorous moments in case you’re thinking it’s just one big schmaltz fest, one in particular leaving this viewer [and his editor] laughing out loud. It really is just a wholesome, lovely bit of television that makes you wonder why we are dealing with all this stuff now after the climactic events of last week. And then the penny drops.

This one goes dark really quick from about the two thirds mark. And by dark, I don’t mean the overly-angsty, moody histrionics of the Snyder-Verse. The one thing we couldn’t see happening turns out to be the one thing that might be possible, and the journey taken to get there is honestly heartbreaking. As the episode winds up, we see Lois make a call we never would have guessed, and I can only guess at what the writers have in store for us to wrap up in the next four episodes.

Verdict: An absolute masterclass in how to re-interrogate the origin of one of the most well-known characters in the genre, coupled with a gut punch final third that changes all the rules and leaves you reeling. Stunning. 10/10

Greg D. Smith